A/N: Thanks to gredelina1 for pre-reading and helping with shaping the story! Thanks to everyone else for reading and reviewing!

EPOV

Esme pulled out a cellphone from her pocket. "I'm calling Carlisle," she announced.

Her thoughts were full of confusion and surprisingly anger on my behalf. As much as she cared for Tanya and our Denali cousins, her first loyalty was to me. She didn't try to explain anything to Carlisle, but demanded he return home immediately. Esme rarely demanded anything, so Carlisle didn't ask questions.

It wouldn't really matter, though. "By the time he gets here it will be too late…" I muttered, my mind reeling formulating a plan of action. Esme put a hand on my shoulder, afraid at any moment I would flee to Alaska to find Tanya. Obviously, she didn't know Tanya was already in Forks.

Jasper walked in from being outside, initially amused and curious about the destroyed door, but then taken aback when he felt the intensity of my emotions. "

Fuck, Edward. Calm down. You're making me feel like murdering someone…"

When my emotions didn't change an iota, he instantly went into defensive mode, his military and war mindset clicking into gear. Jasper had never felt me be this angry before, and he didn't even bother to calm me down. He knew I was serious and had a reason for what I was feeling.

"What's the situation?" he asked, looking at me and then glancing at Esme. For her, he did attempt to bring a sense of calm. She smiled half heartedly, appreciating the gesture, but battled an increasing sense of betrayal. I agreed with her thoughts. Tanya had not only hurt Bella, but the entire family as well.

I was too angry to speak, so Esme answered for me, glancing at me carefully as she said each word, trying to piece the story together.

"The night before Bella left for Jacksonville, Tanya went to visit Bella. We don't know what she told her, but whatever it was caused Bella to walk away from the family."

Jasper was surprised and began to review every emotion and memory of both Bella and Tanya in the last several weeks. When thoughts turned to Alice and how hurt she had been by the entire ordeal his anger began to rival my own.

"You can't kill her, you need her alive to ask questions…." he replied. Jasper felt slightly conflicted about hurting a woman, but his overwhelming thoughts were that if someone hurt Alice, they get hurt, regardless of gender. After we got answers, then there would be payback.

"Why would she do this?" Esme fretted. "Tanya knew that Bella is your mate. Where is her sense of respect? She knows how deep and permanent the bond is…."

"I'm sure she thought because Bella is human it wasn't a true partnership….only a distraction, as she experiences with her human men."

Esme gasped. "What if she told that to Bella?"

I attempted to respond, but it was difficult to speak. "Bella….knows I love her. I've told her…a thousand times…"

Jasper began to remember Phoenix, particularly Bella's emotions when they were in the hotel with Alice. "Bella is complicated, Edward. She didn't feel as though she was worthy of our protection in Phoenix." He shared the memory of her emotions with me and I cringed. I remembered snippets of our conversations, when Bella would make a passing remark, revealing her insecurities. I always dismissed those because they were ridiculous. I should have paid closer attention.

His thoughts changed to his memory of Bella in the hospital in Jacksonville and overhearing her say she loved me. "Despite whatever Tanya told Bella, she still loves you. No lasting damage has been done." Esme hugged me. "Only death can separate a vampire from his mate," she tried to assure me, then immediately regretted her words. Bella was human. Humans died. She frowned. "What I'm trying to say is that Tanya may try to cause trouble, but you and Bella are destined to be together, no matter what obstacles you have to endure."

Only decades of extreme self-control was keeping me from hunting Tanya down and brutally dismembering her. But, my family's words encouraged me to think rationally.

"I've been an idiot," I confessed. "Bella was behaving so out of character and my insecurities prevented me from seeing the truth."

"Tanya betrayed all of us," Esme added, giving voice to her thoughts. "Bella is a member of the family. You hurt her, you hurt all of us."

Jasper nodded, fully agreeing with her. "The night Tanya came to visit, she intentionally distracted me and Alice. She knew that Alice would see what she planned to do or that I would feel her intentions and put a stop to it."

"Her thoughts have been in Russian, mostly a dialect that I'm not familiar with. I was too annoyed with her to think she was doing it to deceive me. Until this afternoon, when she saw Bella and her guard was down…."

My anger level spiked again as I further analyzed Tanya's thoughts. I closed my eyes, in an attempt to remained focused, but a growl escaped from my lips. Both Esme and Jasper stepped away, realizing I was about to lose it.

When she saw Bella, Tanya was gloating. Tanya thought she had won. The expression on Bella's face I now was able to recognize as heartbreak. Bella thought Tanya had won, too.

Jasper finally tried to calm me, but I was inconsolable. In the distance I heard a car in our driveway, Alice arguing with Tanya. "Don't go inside, you need to leave, now."

"It will be fine," Tanya disagreed, her thoughts guarded, but revealing she wanted to see me. She imagined the ways she could make me relax. I found her revolting.

Tanya actually had a smile on her face as she entered the great room, but it quickly turned to alarm. Esme and Jasper were standing in front of me with their arms crossed, expressions of warning on their faces. My eyes remained closed, as I hung on by a thread, reminded myself of Jasper's advice. I needed answers from Tanya before I maimed her. I didn't want to disappoint Carlisle, but if he didn't arrive soon, I couldn't be held responsible for my actions.

More memories escaped in Tanya's mind of talking to Bella, but words accompanied the pictures.

"Edward loves me," Bella protested.

Seeing how angry I was, suspecting I already knew the truth, Tanya was tempted to believed I did truly love Bella. She hadn't been convinced of it before. My eyes opened in shock at Tanya's additional thought of her own words, as she glanced at Esme and Jasper.

"The Cullens see you as a pet, not as an equal," she told Bella. Bella began to cry.

I pounced on Tanya and pinned her to the ground. For a moment, she was actually delusional enough to think I was being romantic. Then, she saw the look of murder in my eyes and it frightened her.

"What the fuck did you tell Bella?" I demanded. "I want to know."

Tanya instantly started reciting a Russian poem to guard her thoughts.

"Edward, what are you doing? Esme, Jasper, Alice, get him off of me…."

To my surprise, Esme and Jasper weren't trying to intervene. Alice had moved to Jasper's side, confused, and he was explaining to her what was happening. A look of betrayal and rage clouded over Alice's face. Jasper wrapped his arms around her, partly to console her, partly to restrain her from joining me.

I slammed Tanya to the ground and the floor cracked. "You didn't think I would find out? Bella is my mate…."

Her resolve began to crack. "It was for her own good….I didn't want her to get hurt…."

I shifted one arm over Tanya's throat. I didn't really need details, did I? I knew that Tanya had somehow convinced Bella our family didn't care for her, and even more blasphemous, lied and said I didn't love her. She deserved to die.

With my other hand, I began to reach over to twist Tanya's head off, but paused as I heard Carlisle approaching the house. He was overcome with grief. It was strong enough for me to jump off Tanya and meet my father at the door. Instead of trying to escape, Tanya remained to find out why I had shown mercy. When he appeared, it was as though Carlisle was crying, even though he couldn't. He looked at us, mournfully, then pulled me into a hug.

"I heard the news…." he whispered, squeezing me tight. "I'm so sorry…." His thoughts filled in the detail of the reason for his sorrow.

Bella was dead.